I have the pleasure to announce to all of you out there in blogland that Mary Sarah Jayne Sprengeler was born Friday, May 30th at 2:37 AM. For those of you keeping score at home, that's actually only 4 days overdue. However, she somehow managed to weigh over a pound more than the J did when she was born, at 8 pounds 14. Luckily she's long and skinny, just like her older sister. I think Sarah said 20.7 inches. My favorite part: she has big long monkey-feet, just like me. Mother and daughter are well.
Now the females and males at our house are equally matched - too bad the other two members of my team are Simon and Bung, the neutered wonders.
I would be posting pictures with this, except my baby-induced sleeplessness has caused me to leave the camera at the hospital. (I really can't complain - Sarah's been getting a lot less sleep than I have the last two days. I suspect that that will change.) If the past repeats itself, we'll probably get around to posting some pictures by the time Mary's 9 months or so.
There are a couple of funny side notes that go along with this labor and delivery story. One involves a lawnmower and someone who has not mowed a lawn for 13 years. The other one involves no epidural or pain meds and the most hardcore cheapskate you'll ever meet. I'll leave you to ponder who the main character is in both those stories. You'll get the lowdown later when Sarah comes home from the hospital.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Al Dente
When Mike and I have noodles, I make him taste them to ensure that they are boiled just to his liking. I grew up eating spaghetti that was cooked for 15 or 20 minutes or so, then thrown into some warm water to sit until we could round up the family to eat. The noodles were soft and a little gelatinous....and that's the way it was. Mike, on the other hand, has taught me the virtues of cooking a pot of noodles until they're done just right. Thirty seconds too few or two many in the boiling water...and you are either on the gelatinous side or your noodles still have the suspicious "crunchy" interior. (I am going somewhere with this....believe me....)
With regards to the latest Sprengeler Creation, I can assure all of you that that this baby is not going to be born with the slightest crunchy interior. Yes, we are still pregnant.....still boiling, still baking, still wearing TED socks, still getting sympathetic looks from the nurses,....despite all of my efforts to the contrary. My ever-amusing pediatric attending physician, Dr. Mason, speculates that I will simply dilate two centimeters each week, and combined with the continued increase in our baby's OFC (head circumference), that would put me at the twelve centimeters of dilation needed to push this baby out by the 4th of July or so....
At any rate, an interesting phenomenon has occurred: I checked the Baby Pool this morning, and nobody picked May 29th as our due date. What if today's the day? Now who are we supposed to name our child after!?!?!? So much for that brilliant idea....if we have the little one in the next 19 hours (pregnancy induced insomnia...yes I am blogging at 5AM), we'll be back at square one!
Now we need to ask God for two miracles:
1. Baby names falling from the sky at the right moment...
2. Baby Al Dente on May 29th, 2008.
You'll be hearing from us. Have a good Thursday.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
...baby still baking...sigh
Hi everybody,
Reading through the baby pool commentaries was a delight! Thanks for your input. Being a nerd, I though of doing a statistical analysis on dates, sex, and most importantly, weight....but I guess I'll skip that. At this point, we'd like a baby. One baby, preferably one with a medium-sized head, and Mike would prefer that he or she be born in a hospital. (I don't plan to labor long in the hospital...I'd rather be home where I don't have to be hooked up to monitors and eating Jello. I know, I am a terrible patient.....) Just in case, I told Mike that you don't have to cut the cord right when the baby comes out. He has no desire to do that. :)
We've been playing outside a lot lately. In the last two days, I dug up and re-planted the flower bed along the front walk, potted seventeen plants, and dug up (rescued) some perennials that seeded into our lawn. I try and bend over/squat as much as possible. Unfortunately, it is raining, so I can't do that today. Never fear, Mike had a better idea. When we got home from church today, we put Julia to bed and Mike put on a CD...
"Wanna Dance?" He said.
"Uh...sure...I said." (I was thinking of a waltz or something since we took those ballroom dancing classes five years ago)
Two seconds later, I was inundated with a familiar accordion melody, complete with the vocalizations of poultry-types........
Yes, Mike had put on the Chicken Dance. And yes, we danced it...in the living room. And yes, I squatted all the way down to the floor every time. It became very challenging when the tempo went up at the end. I just tried to get back up from the latest squat before I had to do it again.
....I have been contracting every once in awhile ever since. I guess it's time for dancing again.
Sarah
Reading through the baby pool commentaries was a delight! Thanks for your input. Being a nerd, I though of doing a statistical analysis on dates, sex, and most importantly, weight....but I guess I'll skip that. At this point, we'd like a baby. One baby, preferably one with a medium-sized head, and Mike would prefer that he or she be born in a hospital. (I don't plan to labor long in the hospital...I'd rather be home where I don't have to be hooked up to monitors and eating Jello. I know, I am a terrible patient.....) Just in case, I told Mike that you don't have to cut the cord right when the baby comes out. He has no desire to do that. :)
We've been playing outside a lot lately. In the last two days, I dug up and re-planted the flower bed along the front walk, potted seventeen plants, and dug up (rescued) some perennials that seeded into our lawn. I try and bend over/squat as much as possible. Unfortunately, it is raining, so I can't do that today. Never fear, Mike had a better idea. When we got home from church today, we put Julia to bed and Mike put on a CD...
"Wanna Dance?" He said.
"Uh...sure...I said." (I was thinking of a waltz or something since we took those ballroom dancing classes five years ago)
Two seconds later, I was inundated with a familiar accordion melody, complete with the vocalizations of poultry-types........
Yes, Mike had put on the Chicken Dance. And yes, we danced it...in the living room. And yes, I squatted all the way down to the floor every time. It became very challenging when the tempo went up at the end. I just tried to get back up from the latest squat before I had to do it again.
....I have been contracting every once in awhile ever since. I guess it's time for dancing again.
Sarah
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Baby Pool
Hi friends and family!
Sorry we've been delinquent with the blog for a whole week. We've been busy trying to get a bunch of stuff done before this little (I hope) one arrives....painting, planting, cleaning, bringing stuff to goodwill and the dump, putting batteries in Julia's toys, etc. Actually, I have to give Mike 90% of the credit...I've been working many hours at the hospital these days and haven't had much time at home to get anything done except for playing with the J. At any rate, we're due in five days (Memorial Day), and I know in my heart that there's no way in God's Green Earth that we'll get all those flowers planted, get the second (or even the first) coat of paint on our bedroom wall, or get most of the crap out of the basement before the baby comes. Oh well....at least we can give it a shot.
I probably should have done this earlier, but I want to know what you think: post a comment on today's blog with a guess for the baby pool. Sex of the baby, date of the birth, and weight (bonus points to those who guess small numbers in the latter category....) The winner will achieve fame: we'll give you the credit on the Sprengeler blog. Or, maybe, we'll just name the baby after the winner, considering that we haven't picked out names yet. (Compiling a list of name ideas for Baby #2 is currently on the LIST of things that we have to do before baby arrives...ha ha ha.) So, give us your thoughts. Julia was born on the day before her due date, and she was 7# 12oz. Let's see who wins!
Sorry we've been delinquent with the blog for a whole week. We've been busy trying to get a bunch of stuff done before this little (I hope) one arrives....painting, planting, cleaning, bringing stuff to goodwill and the dump, putting batteries in Julia's toys, etc. Actually, I have to give Mike 90% of the credit...I've been working many hours at the hospital these days and haven't had much time at home to get anything done except for playing with the J. At any rate, we're due in five days (Memorial Day), and I know in my heart that there's no way in God's Green Earth that we'll get all those flowers planted, get the second (or even the first) coat of paint on our bedroom wall, or get most of the crap out of the basement before the baby comes. Oh well....at least we can give it a shot.
I probably should have done this earlier, but I want to know what you think: post a comment on today's blog with a guess for the baby pool. Sex of the baby, date of the birth, and weight (bonus points to those who guess small numbers in the latter category....) The winner will achieve fame: we'll give you the credit on the Sprengeler blog. Or, maybe, we'll just name the baby after the winner, considering that we haven't picked out names yet. (Compiling a list of name ideas for Baby #2 is currently on the LIST of things that we have to do before baby arrives...ha ha ha.) So, give us your thoughts. Julia was born on the day before her due date, and she was 7# 12oz. Let's see who wins!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Julia's Kitchen
Grandma and Grandpa Sprengeler bought Julia a little kitchen for Christmas, and she is finally getting all her accessories together. Here she is making some cookies...
"Seriously, Mom...I"m BUSY."
Julia is playing with her knife. I've got to hand it to Target...they came up with these little wooden fruits that velcro together and a little wooden knife to cut them up with. Now, she doesn't ask to borrow our cleaver nearly as much. :)
PS: No baby yet. We are due in twelve days. Not that I'm counting or anything.... :)
"Seriously, Mom...I"m BUSY."
Julia is playing with her knife. I've got to hand it to Target...they came up with these little wooden fruits that velcro together and a little wooden knife to cut them up with. Now, she doesn't ask to borrow our cleaver nearly as much. :)
PS: No baby yet. We are due in twelve days. Not that I'm counting or anything.... :)
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Canal Park
Yesterday, I picked up Julia from daycare early.....and we went to Canal Park. I brought along all of the half-eaten bags of carbohydrates that have been sitting in our cupboard for months (chips, crackers, cheetos...etc) and Julia got to feed the birds! I remember taking her here last spring and she hadn't grasped the concept of throwing yet. (It was more like dropping the bread). Well, this year, she chucked chips and ritz crackers at the gulls....and wasn't even afraid when they dive-bombed her. I think we will be back soon, I just found a soggy package of saltines.
My little swimmer asked if she could go in the lake. Mind you, it's about 37 degrees and there was a sharp cold wind off the lake....but she didn't care. I speculated that she was trying out the lake for some spring wading, so I sort of looked in the other direction for a brief moment. Honestly, I never saw her step in, I swear. I did hear a suspicious shriek of joy, though. Papa couldn't understand why we had wet pants and shoes when we got home.....I guess I have no idea. Good thing Lake Superior doesn't smell like dead fish.
My little swimmer asked if she could go in the lake. Mind you, it's about 37 degrees and there was a sharp cold wind off the lake....but she didn't care. I speculated that she was trying out the lake for some spring wading, so I sort of looked in the other direction for a brief moment. Honestly, I never saw her step in, I swear. I did hear a suspicious shriek of joy, though. Papa couldn't understand why we had wet pants and shoes when we got home.....I guess I have no idea. Good thing Lake Superior doesn't smell like dead fish.
Monday, May 5, 2008
...another sign of impeccable parenting
Today, Julia decided to eat like a lady....let me explain.
It all started when grandma Beth gave us a package of those little boxes of cereal for Julia's birthday. You know, the ones with all the "bad for you" cereals that you never buy? Well, one of those boxes contained Cocoa Krispies, a new favorite of the Toddler. Julia ate about half of it while we were cleaning up the kitchen this afternoon, and then the phone rang. While I was on the phone, she proceeded to dump out the rest of the box out on the counter. I put the phone down and transferred the Krispies to a zip lock baggie.
Mike then called me upstairs for something. I left Julia in the kitchen playing with some toys and ran to help. A minute or two later, I had that motherly feeling....."it's too quiet....something is happening..." Then, I heard our cat meowing really loudly. It was kind of a whiney "Mrawwwoowww"
So, I went downstairs to find out what Julia was up to and this is what I saw:
Yes, your eyes are telling the truth. Julia proceeded to find the baggie, finish her cereal, and eat it properly out of a dish. The problem, you ask? The little square plastic dish belongs to BUNG, the CAT....and yes, he had recently eaten a meal of wet cat food out of it....and we hadn't gotten around to washing it yet. So, Miss Julia was eating her cocoa krispies right out of the cat's dirty food dish...and was mighty proud of herself, too. The cat was standing by, watching the whole scene, and was almost as disturbed as I was. Before I stole the dish away, Julia made me pour some milk on them and offer them to Bung. He told us they were indeed mighty tasty.
It all started when grandma Beth gave us a package of those little boxes of cereal for Julia's birthday. You know, the ones with all the "bad for you" cereals that you never buy? Well, one of those boxes contained Cocoa Krispies, a new favorite of the Toddler. Julia ate about half of it while we were cleaning up the kitchen this afternoon, and then the phone rang. While I was on the phone, she proceeded to dump out the rest of the box out on the counter. I put the phone down and transferred the Krispies to a zip lock baggie.
Mike then called me upstairs for something. I left Julia in the kitchen playing with some toys and ran to help. A minute or two later, I had that motherly feeling....."it's too quiet....something is happening..." Then, I heard our cat meowing really loudly. It was kind of a whiney "Mrawwwoowww"
So, I went downstairs to find out what Julia was up to and this is what I saw:
Yes, your eyes are telling the truth. Julia proceeded to find the baggie, finish her cereal, and eat it properly out of a dish. The problem, you ask? The little square plastic dish belongs to BUNG, the CAT....and yes, he had recently eaten a meal of wet cat food out of it....and we hadn't gotten around to washing it yet. So, Miss Julia was eating her cocoa krispies right out of the cat's dirty food dish...and was mighty proud of herself, too. The cat was standing by, watching the whole scene, and was almost as disturbed as I was. Before I stole the dish away, Julia made me pour some milk on them and offer them to Bung. He told us they were indeed mighty tasty.
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